In North America, asideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with acircus,carnival,fair, or other such attraction. They historically featured human oddity exhibits (so-called “freak shows”), preserved specimens (real or fabricated, such as theFiji Mermaid), live animal acts,burlesque orstrip shows, actually or ostensibly dangerous stunts, or stunts that appear painful likehuman blockhead.
Most modern sideshows feature fewer to no animal acts, and have a greater focus on trainable feats or consensual body modification rather than exhibiting people with congenital disabilities, either due to changing public opinion or local laws prohibiting the exhibition of disabled people or animals.
Trainable acts associated with sideshows includesword swallowing,fire breathing and manipulation,magic and visual illusions,human blockhead,knife throwing, lying on abed of nails,contortion, and may also include an overlap with circus acts such asjuggling, aerialhoop/silk/chains acrobatics, and motorcycle stunts like theGlobe of Death. Whether such an act is considered “sideshow” or “circus” depends on how the show itself is billed, or advertised, to potential viewers.
“Sideshow” as a theme is associated with the strange, grotesque, provocative, andtaboo. Some movies, TV shows, Halloween decoration manufacturers, and live performers have adopted these aesthetics, which may include dramatic costumes, dangerous stunts, deformed humans or animals, sexual themes, horror elements, and other provocative or disturbing imagery.
The horror anthologyAmerican Horror Story: Freak Show involved sideshow themes throughout its story and promotional materials. It features dramatized versions of real sideshow performers from history, such as theectrodactyl character Jimmy Darling, portrayed byEvan Peters in prosthetic makeup, based on the real “Lobster Boy”,Grady Stiles Jr. The show also featured actors with real congenital abnormalities, such asMat Fraser, born withphocomelia, andJyoti Amge, the world’s smallest living woman.[1]
There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions:
Modern sideshows in North America have significantly fewer or no human oddities, and few to no travelinggirl shows, due to both a changing public opinion and local laws prohibiting the exhibition of disabled people or animals, as well as stricter regulation of nude performance and designated locations they can legally occur.
InMichigan, since 1931 it has been a misdemeanor to display deformed or disabled humans as part of an exhibit, whether for free or by charging for tickets, except as part of medical education.[5]
InFlorida, as of 2024 it is amisdemeanor offense to display deformed animals in any place where a fee is charged.[6] There is currently no law in Florida prohibiting human oddity exhibition.
Most traveling burlesque dancers now work in dedicated legal venues such ascabarets orstrip clubs, rather than as part of a carnival midway as was typical in the 20th century.[citation needed]
Particularly in the United States, sideshows historically included practices such as thepurchase of human beings, the display ofhuman zoos, exploitation of the mentally disabled who could not consent to perform,segregation of performers and customers, especially in girl shows (nearly or fully nude performances), andminstrel shows.
In 1835, African-American womanJoice Heth was enslaved and sold to John S. Bowling and later P.T. Barnum, and was exhibited in sideshows under the false claim that she was the “161-year-oldnursing mammy ofGeorge Washington.” After her death she was publicly autopsied, for which Barnum charged admission.[7]
Up until the mid 20th century,revues (girl shows) in the United States were racially segregated. Additionally, Black customers were prohibited from viewing white women performers, while anyone was permitted to see Black women.[citation needed]
In the 1999 bookGirl Show: Into the Canvas World of Bump and Grind, a former “girl show” owner is quoted as saying:
“When we played in Texas we couldn’t let blackairmen into our show because the girls were white. These guys weren’t allowed to see white strippers but they could go overseas and be killed for their country. That was OK? We didn’t like it but the fair board and local police made the rules. This was up into the late 1950s and possibly the early 1960s.”[8]
By the 1830s, "outside shows" began to be established alongside travelling circuses.[9]: 9 Initially, the circuses distanced themselves from the sideshows, but in 1850, a relationship was established between them.[9]: 9
"Working acts" often exhibited a number of stunts that could be counted on to draw crowds. These stunts used little-known methods and offered the elements of danger and excitement. Such acts includedfire eating,sword swallowing,knife throwing,body piercing, lying on abed of nails, walking up a ladder of sharp swords, and more.
Interest in sideshows declined as television made it easy (and free) to see the world's most exotic attractions. Moreover, viewing "human oddities" became distasteful as the public conscience changed, and many localities passed laws forbidding the exhibition of freaks.[10] The performers often protested (to no avail) that they had no objection to the sideshow, especially since it provided not only a good income for them, but in many cases it provided their only possible job.
Emmitt Bejano, a man withlamellar ichthyosis who performed as “TheAlligator Boy”, said: “[Sideshow work] keeps me off the relief line.”[11]
With legal restrictions on human oddity exhibitions, most modern sideshows feature performances of trainable stunts andbody modifications, which can but do not necessarily requirecongenital abnormalities.
In 2013,Gary Turner, born withEhlers-Dalnos syndrome, performed as Gary Stretch withThe Circus of Horrors, alongside other performers such as Jesus Aceves, a man born withhypertrichosis billed as “Wolfboy”, who walked on swords as part of his act.[12]
John Haze, owner of the show, said of their sword swallower with body modifications Hannibal Helmurto:
"He wore a normal suit and had no tattoos. Ten years later he turned up at the Hackney Empire and he had completely changed his body."
In modern times, sideshow performers are often individual professionals or groups. A greater number of "Single O" attractions still tour carnivals.
In the 1940s, Ward Hall began the World of Wonders Amazement Show, which is still running today. It is the oldest carnival sideshow organization in America and is currently owned and run by Thomas Breen.[13] In 1970, John Strong Jr (son of John Strong of The John Strong 3 Ring Tented Circus)[14] began a 47-year continuous run of traveling sideshow, The Strong Sideshow. Several acts and artifacts toured over the years such as the 5-legged dog, Chupacabra, a 2-headed cow, and a mummy. John Jr. performed all the live acts himself for several years including sword swallowing, fire eating, bed of nails blade box and electric chair.[15] After living the lifestyle for a lifetime, The Strong Sideshow is now in residency at "The Sideshow Museum", inUranus, Missouri.
In the early 1990s, Jim Rose developed a modern sideshow called "theJim Rose Circus", reinventing the sideshow with two types of acts that would attract modern audiences and stay within legal bounds. The show featured acts reviving traditional sideshow stunts and carrying some of them to extremes, and "fringe" artists (often exhibiting extremebody modification) performing bizarre or masochistic acts like eating insects, lifting weights by means of hooks inserted in their body piercings, or stapling currency to their forehead. The show drew audiences at venues unknown to old-time sideshows, like rock clubs and the 1992Lollapalooza festival. The Jim Rose Circus held its last known performance in 2013 at The London Burlesque Festival. The impact of the Jim Rose Circus on pop culture inspired a new wave of performers. There are now more sideshow performers than at any other time in the genre's history. At the same time in Canada, Scott McClelland, grandson of itinerant showman N.P. Lewchuk, formedCarnival Diablo, a show that performs frequently to this day. The success of these shows sparked a growing number of performers to revive the traditional sideshow arts, taught by sideshow veterans, and many now perform in spot engagements from rock clubs and comedy clubs to corporate events.
"Sideshows by the Seashore", sponsored byConey Island USA inBrooklyn,New York City, has performed since 1983, and tours under the name "Coney Island Circus Sideshow". Circus historian and collector Ken Harck ran the Brothers Grim Sideshow, which toured with theOzzFest music festival in the summer of 2006 and 2007. Sideshow celebrity and multiple world record breaker Chayne Hultgren 'The Space Cowboy' owns Australia's largest traveling oddity museum 'The Mutant Barnyard' and along with his partner Zoe Ellis 'AKA: Zoe L'amore' they run 'Sideshow Wonderland'.
| Acrobatics, balance, and contortion | |
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| Juggling andobject manipulation | |
| Vaulting | |
| Other | |
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